Environmental degradation, social disequilibrium, and the dilemma of sustainable development in the Niger-Delta of Nigeria

Development is skewed in disfavor of the geographical zone of the Niger-Delta of Nigeria because of public policies that have consistently failed to improve the welfare of the people. Part of the development enigma is orchestrated by the exploitative tendencies of multinational oil companies that have blandly plundered for fossil fuel and thereby truncated the sustainability of the indigenous environment. The continuing crisis of youth restiveness and resistance is traceable to this larger development issue. This article examines the prevailing social trend in the Niger-Delta and concludes rather emphatically that some of the consequences of social disequilibrium (e.g., the ubiquity of social miscreants [area boys], juvenile delinquents, and other deviant behaviors) cannot be understood independently of environmental problems that stem from a warped development initiative that roundly undermines the existential base of the Niger-Delta peoples. © 2004 Sage Publications.